Final Fantasy VIII: Alcoholdernched Regrets
by Gearhead85
Summary: It has gone three years since the events of the game and a father who lost everything thinks back on what happened fifteen years ago. This is also kind of a prequel to the stories about Luna and her sisters. Read and review. Updated version Sort of a prequel to Two Lionesses and An Outcast Angel


This is kind of a prequel to Two Lionesses And An outcast Angel and take place about seventeen years before. I write this in honor of a friend who died in an alcohol related car crash over two and a half year ago. Rest in peace.

Final Fantasy: Alcohol Drenched Regrets

Fury Caraway sat in his couch inside the living room thinking. This was no ordinary day. Today it was fifteen years since his wife passed away...and he lost his daughter. He remembered everything like it was yesterday and the regrets and guilt still lingered in his mind.

Flashback: Fifteen years before

Fury and his wife Julia Caraway Heartilly had just dressed themselves and was just on their way out trough the door when their soon to be five year old daughter came running.

"Mommy, daddy, when will you be home?" She asked.

"We will be back tonight honey." Julia said smiling at the little girl looked at them.

"But you promised you would read me a bedtime story." Rinoa pouted disappointed.

"I know angel, but we got invited to a banquet this evening and it is very important for your father's work." Julia said as she knelt down beside her daughter.

"Hurry or we will be late." Fury said impatiently.

"Soon honey." Julia said and then looked at her daughter again. "Tomorrow I will make up to you by starting to bake your birthday cake. How about that? Would you like that?"

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay." The little girl squealed.

"Good night angel. See you tomorrow." Julia said as she walked out trough the door.

"Good bye mommy. Good bye daddy." Rinoa yelled.

The banquet did go well until after a few drinks Fury felt the alcohol's effect on him.

"Please honey, don't drink more or you will have a hangover to morrow."

"I...I can handle it honey." Caraway said as he drank another whiskey.

After the banquet all guest left to go home to their respectively homes and the Caraways moved to their car.

"Are you sure you can drive in this condition? Wouldn't it be better if we took a cab or called someone to pick us up?" Julia wondered.

"Don't worry. Just get into the car." Her husband said irritated.

"But don't you think...?"

"Get into the damn car." Fury almost yelled.

Julia knew it was no idea to argue with him when he was drunk so reluctantly she stepped in. On the way home Fury pressed the gas pedal a bit hard.

"Don't you drive a bit to fast honey?" Julia asked scared.

"Nag nag nag. I can handle a simple car for god's sake." Fury said increasing the speed.

Then everything happened so fast. He lost control over the car and turned over and they rolled several times before everything got black.

A little while later he woke up by hearing someone talking.

"Sir...sir...Are you alright."

"Yes I think so." He said as he started to come to. He saw a white room and people dressed in white.

"You are lucky. You just have a concussion and some smaller scrapes and bruises but otherwise unharmed." The doctor said. "I am doctor Salvatore. You have been unconscious the whole night."

"How is my wife? How is Julia?" He asked groggily both from the liqueur and the crash.

"I am sorry." The doctor said. "She didn't make it. She broke her neck in the crash. I don't think she had time to feel any pain. The fire department had to cut loose her body from the car."

He felt his whole body got cold and suddenly sobered up by the chock.

"Is there somewhere we should take you?" The Doctor asked.

"Home." Fury says numbed. "I have a daughter at home waiting for me and my wife."

When he arrived at home he was met by his daughter.

"DADDY, you are home." Rinoa yelled as she jumped up in his arms. But then she looked around confused. "Where is mommy? She was going to make my birthday cake."

He felt how hard it was to breath. He looked at his daughter and saw her eyes staring at him But instead of his daughter he saw his wife. He saw the accusing look in her eyes blaming him for her death. Now he couldn't hold back anymore but started to cry.

"Daddy? What's wrong? Where is mommy?" Rinoa pushed.

"I am sorry...I am so sorry." He cried. "She is gone."

"Gone? When will she come back?" Rinoa asked. "She promised we should make my birthday cake."

"She will not come back." He said sobbing. "Mommy is in heaven."

"Why daddy? Is mommy mad at me? Is that why she won't come back?" His little girl looked at him and tears emerged in her eyes.

Those damn accusing eyes. He could barely look at his daughter without seeing the ghost of his wife starring back and he couldn't take it anymore. "She is dead. Do you get it? She is dead."

He rose up and freed himself from his crying daughter and ran away in panic.

The following days he lived in a kind of bubble. His contacts had covered up the accident so he didn't had to face the charges of drunk driving. But that didn't mean he got away without punishment. Every time he saw his daughter he felt the guilt from seeing his now late wife in her. Seeing those damn accusing eyes looking back at him, missing that all his little girl wanted him to hold her. He missed that she thought she had done something wrong and her mother didn't want to see her. He distanced himself more and more each day.

The day the funeral was held he let one of the maids take care of his daughter so he wouldn't have to face her while the casket got lowered into the ground. From that day on father and daughter grew steadily apart.

Present

"Sir, it is time for your tea." Fury heard his butler say.

"Thank you Burkfield."

Ever since Rinoa ran away he had stopped drinking. He thought of the day she had turned fifteen.

("Ever since Julia died I felt so guilty that I stopped being a good father. I just have myself to blame for my solitude. If I just hadn't been drunk that night or at least not had driven.")

Flashback: Five years before

"I DON'T CARE." Rinoa yelled red of anger. "I am not going to make my birthday party into banquet so you can look good in front of your friends. I am going to hang out with my friends. They at least care about me."

"I am your father and you do as I say. So put on the damn dress now. And you are going to play the piano for our guest. They are waiting down in the hall for you."

"All you try to do is to turn me into mom and I don't know those people." Rinoa said coldly. "Everything that matters to you is your stupid job."

"It is thanks to my job we can afford this kind of life style so show some appreciation." He said angry.

"I rather live on the streets instead of this loveless hellhole. My friends may not have as much as I do, but at least they are loved." She spat at him. "Like mom loved me...until you killed her..."

"Enough" He said as he slapped her hard. "For the last time, put on the dress and come down to the dinner hall. Or else."

"Okay fine." She said as she stroked her cheek. Tears of anger emerged in her eyes as Angelo stood growling beside her ready to protect. "Can I at least dress in private or shall you stand and watch to?"

"I will be waiting outside. And drop that attitude. It doesn't suit a lady." Fury said walking out.

("She is hopeless. Can't she see I am suffering to and I am trying my best to be a good father. Every time I look at her I see her mother.") He thought as his heart ached. "Julia, why did you have to die?"

He waited for almost an hour.

"Are you done yet?" He yelled trough the door. But no answer came. He tried to open the door only to find it locked. So he charged and broke trough the door, only to find her room empty. On her desk a note lie wish read.

_Dear father_

_You can go to hell. From now on you don't have daughter. You never showed me love or gave me guidance. Instead you let me think I had done something bad so mum didn't want to see me. By the way I am changing my last name to mum's maiden name. That way I will be clean from the bad taste I get every time I use my full name. Hope I never have to see you again_

_Have a good life with your friends and your damn job_

_Rinoa Heartilly_

+Present

He wiped away a stray tear at he reminisced everything he had lost.

On the highway to Deling City a car drove. Inside Rinoa sat in deep thoughts about what happened so many years ago.

Flashback: Her mother's death day

She woke up and stepped out of bed excited over that she and her mother was going to bake a cake. She happily ran and jumped up in her father's arms

"DADDY, you are home." She yelled happy but when she started to look around she couldn't see her mother anywhere. "Where is mommy? She was going to make my birthday cake."

She saw how her father stared at her in a way that almost scared her before he broke down in tears apologizing. And when she asked he said things about her mother is gone and she was in heaven and never will come back. And when she asked why and if her mother was angry at her he yelled her mother was dead before running of, leaving her there as tears started to come in her eyes.

Later that day she still hadn't seen her father since he came home.

"Richard...why is mommy and daddy angry at me?" She asked the servant.

"They are not angry at you." Mr Burkfield said as he knelled down.

"Then why won't mommy come home? And why wont daddy see me? I miss them."

"Your father and mother was in an accident and your mother didn't make it. And that made your father very sad."

"But I was in an accident to when I tripped on the carpet but I didn't go away. Why did mommy?" She asked again crying. "I want my mommy and daddy. Why wont they see me?"

Present

Rinoa could feel a small tear came down her cheek at the memory.

("He didn't have the strength to take care of me after because I reminded him of his guilt...From that day I started to recent him and even hate him...and it culminated on my fifteenth birthday.")

Flashback: In her room at her birthday.

She had just ended her conversation with one of her friends about their plans for tonight to celebrate that she turned fifteen when her father entered her room.

"Why haven't you dressed? The banquet start soon." He boomed out.

"I am not going. I have made plans with my friends tonight to have some fun instead of eating with some dusty old politicians and military." She said in a sour voice.

"You don't have any say in this. Everything is already decided and the guests are already here." He said angry at her.

"I DON'T CARE." Rinoa yelled red of anger. "I am not going to make my birthday party into banquet so you can look good in front of your friends. I am going to hang out with my friends. They at least care about me."

There on everything went out of hand with the bickering and out of anger her father slapped her.

"Okay fine." She said as she stroked her cheek. Tears of anger emerged in her eyes as Angelo stood growling beside her ready to protect. "Can I at least dress in private or shall you stand and watch to?"

When he left her so she could dress herself for the banquet she slumped down on the floor crying with her puppy in her arms. "You are the only one that understands me Angelo."

("I hate him. I hate him so much. Mommy, why couldn't he died instead of you? Everything is his fault...I really miss you.") She thought as she rose up and started to pack some clothes into a backpack along with some spare gil. She also wrote a note to her father.

"Angelo, we are leaving." She said when she had finished her packing.

She opened her window and took a leap out into a nearby tree with her puppy in her arms and then climbed down.

When she was out on the streets she first thought about going to the shopping district to meet up with her friends. But with the fight that had ensued she didn't feel like meeting anyone. Instead she walked to the train station and bought a ticket to Timber.

Present

She got yanked out from her thoughts by Squall.

"We are here now. Are you sure you want this?" Squall asked.

"Yes I am. I must do this to be able to go on with my life." Rinoa said.

"Okay. I will wait for you outside. You just have to call if you need me."

She walked up and knocked on the door.

"Oh my, miss Rinoa." The butler said as he opened the door.

"Well technically it is Mrs Leonhart Heartilly now." She said blushing. "Good to see you Richard."

"It has been three years since last time you where here." The butler said. "How does your life look like now?"

"Well I am married with Squall, you know the one in leather jacket and a gunblade. And I am also a SeeD and works as a councilor at Balamb Garden."

"Good to hear my young lady."

"Um is my dad at home? There are some things I want to talk with him about."

"Follow me." Burkfield said.

Fury sat sipping his tea when he heard the butler came in.

"You have a visitor sir."

"Send them away. I am not in the mood today." Fury answered.

"I am sure you you want to meet this visitor." Burkfield pressed.

With an irritated growl he rose up, but almost fainted.

"Hi dad." She said with a thin smile on her lips.

"Rin...Rinoa, is it really you?"

"Yes it is me. I thought we should talk." She said.

"Please sit down. Burkfield get some tea for my daughter." Fury said not knowing what to do.

When they had seated Rinoa was the first one to speak.

"So how have you been? Have you been reinstated as a general since Edea fired you for the assassination attempt?" Rinoa asked.

"Yes. But since the peace I haven't been out to war. Instead I have been on diplomatic missions with the Estharian government."

"So I guess you have met my father in law then?" Rinoa asked.

"Your father in law?" Fury said confused. "I thought you liked that SeeD, Squall was it?"

"I am. Laguna is Squall's father. I and Squall married a year ago and I am now a SeeD to. I am working as a councilor and as an instructor in sorceress history." Rinoa said. "Dad, the reason I came here is that I want to talk with you about the past. I want us to try to bury the hatchet."

"I have dreamed about this day to come..bur never thought it would." Fury said with a crumbling voice. "Ever since you ran away from home my life have been so empty. You look so much like your mother."

"But I am not her. I am your daughter." Rinoa said as she to felt some tears on her cheek. "And when I was little I needed you to love me...to see me as me and not the ghost of my mother...What hurt the most wasn't that you made the mistake to drive drunk, but that you chose to push me away. I really felt abandoned and unloved. People might think I got spoiled for growing up in a rich home, but I lacked the most important...And right after you didn't care I blamed myself and thought it was because of me she was gone. I didn't understand the concept of death."

"I am so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?" Fury said now crying.

Rinoa felt strange to see her father weeping so openly and showing emotions she barely remember he had showed before.

"It will take time but I am willing to try." Rinoa said. "I want you to be part of your grandchildren's life. They deserve to have both their grandfathers in their life."

"Grandchildren?" Fury asked once again confused.

"Yes. I am pregnant. With twins. Me and Squall are going to be parents" Rinoa said. "And if it will be girls we are going to name one Raine after Squall's mother. And what do you think the other is going to be named?"

"Julia?" Fury said surprised.

"Exactly." Rinoa said with a soft smile. "So I am asking you now if you want to be a part of their life? It would mean much for them...and for me."

"More than anything." Fury said as he rose up and walked with unsteady legs to his daughter who also rose up just to embrace each other. Tears of both grief over what they lost but also joy for what they have regained and what future might hold in it's wake.

I know this was a short story, but I have wanted to write this for a couple of years now. Hope you like it. And for those who think he now will have his daughter in his life until he join his wife I recommend you read Two Lionesses And One Outcast Angel


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